Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of clothes, showy, fashionable.

1884

(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 204: The king’s duds was all black, and he did look real swell and starchy.

2. drunk.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

3. stiff, unbending, reserved, lacking in social warmth.

1828–32		in Webster Dict. Amer. Lang. n.p.: Starchy, stiff, precise.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 101: starchy stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, disdainful, cross.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 113/2: I was pleased with the idea of taking down a ‘starchy’ tight-fisted swaggerer like Bob Coombs.
1872		‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It 165: Starchy? – proud? Indeed, they would take up a straw and pick their teeth like a member of Congress.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 80: Starchy, stiffnecked.
1905		A. Binstead Mop Fair 64: Her family tree was every bit as genteel and starchy as the acacia itself.
1905		Truth (Perth) 22 Apr. 7/4: Sum starchy bloaks of parsons / [...] / Anxious for to save the country, / From the jaws o! flamin’ hell .
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 39: Every one of these starchy old Johnnies talking about the time he humped the bluey.
1966		R.E. Alter Carny Kill (1993) 59: ‘Hey. How old are you?’ ‘Eighteen.’ Still starchy about it.